Selector valve for dispensing liquid from a plurality of receptacles



June 8, 1954 3 m 2,680,455

SELECTOR VALVE FOR DISPENSING LIQUID FROM A PLURALITY OF RECEPTACLES Filed May 8, 1952 ZSnventor Patented June 8, 1954 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE SELECTOR VALVE FOR DISPENSING LIQUID FROM A PLURALITY F RECEPTACLES Stephen J. :Raiteri, Stamford, Conn. Application May 8, 1952, SerialNo. 286,-659 7 Claims. (01. .1375.55)

,2 This invention relates to valves and particaronnd'thecasingand located in a given transularly to dispensing or draw-01f valvesfor'se'lecverse radial plane of the-casing. Each opening tively drawing off any one .of a plurality of sepa is oonnected by a separate conduit to a separate "supply container .(not shown). The opening '22 Valves-of this type have many uses, such, for exat the right in Fig. 4 may be connected by a con- Th-is application covers an improvement in the 10 25 with a supply of 'hot Water for making tea,

No. 17,475, filed March 27, 1948, Patent No. conduitZil with the hot water space of acoiiee 2,638,839, issued May'l9, 1953. urn. .Any other "beverages may, of course, be

An object :of this invention is to provide an supplied in place of those mentioned. improved valve constructed and arranged to per- Within the casing I8 is a rotary valve element or member 3! .in the form of a hollow shell of off any one of anum-beraof difierent fiuidsirom substantially the same shape as the casing I 8 including a cylindrical body 32 and a conical Afurther object is to provide a draw-off valve lower portion 33 provided with a discharge open- :of this .t-ype which can he easily and quickly ing 34in alignment with the discharge opening 2,! in the casing, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. The which whensmpositionedscanbeeasily opened-by valve element and easing arerelati-vely rotatable and relatively movable axially, the valve element and which will automaticallyclose when released. being Shorter than the ca i a d fit in snu y With the foregoingand other-objects in view, within the casing. The valve element has a I have devised the construction illustrated in the closed top wall fiii'which can be providedby weldaccompanying drawing ."forming a part of this ing it in place after the remainder of the elespecification. it is, however, to 'be understood :ment has been formed and assembled. The lever the invention is not limited to the "specific desupportin st m 13 is s ur d in the $0111 W tails :of constructionand arrangement shown, but to 3.5 :of ?the valve element and extends upwardly may embody various changes and modifications through a .cap 36 on .the casing 18, which is prefwithin the scopepf thein-ven'tion. erably threaded to the casing and removable In this drawing: thereifiom fOl cleaning and assembly pu poses Fig. 1 is a :central section on the line 1-1 of The valve element 3i 1s nolmally held 1n raised F1 3 through a draw-01f valve ccnstiucted 1n position relatively to .the'casing It, as shown in accordance with one embodiment of this inven- Fig.2, by a helical spring 38 compressed between tion, showing .the parts in open position to draw the casing cap 3,6 and a collar 39 on the lever ."d'; supporting stem 13, in which position the inlet Fig. .2 is a'similarviewshowing thevalve shut; openings in :the-casing arelocated on a .diiferent Fig. :3 is "a top plan of the embodiment shown {a transyersezradial plane:from'thenpenings in the in-Figs. l andi2,ran.d valve element 3] and the -valve is, thereby closed,

Fig. 4.is ahorizontal sectiononthe'l ine 4-4-01" :as Will appear hereafter. On the inner side of .the movable valve element The illustrated form of the-invention' srshovm :34 are mounted a series of short nozzles or pipes asa five-wayvalve-operatedby.a handle :orlever iii, 42, 43 and M secured to the inner wall of the II pivotally mounted between supporting ears 52 valve :element and :each communicating with on the upper endof a-stud 1 and having a grip- .oneor-a series of openings 45, 45, i? and E8 spaced ping end 14 for the user and :an oppositely proaround theupper side wall of the valve element and inithe same transverse radial plane.

The valve shown comprises an outer eiiicular so 11102219 ,extenfis dgwnwaydly t a 'pgint casing I8 including -.an upper cylindrical body adjacent the discharge opening 3 3 through which portion and a icalllowe p nt nn J fluid. is delivered. The nozzle In is connected to inga dischargeopeningd-i in its lower end. The an jflpel'llllg is :in the valve element adapted to cylindrical body wall is provided with a series register with :the inlet opening :22 connected to of inletzopenings 022, 2-3, (24 and 2,5:sui-tab1y spaced zthe'iconduitflt which may lead'to themilk supply.

In the same manner the remaining nozzles 42, 43 and 44 are connected to openings 46, 41 and 48 respectively, each adapted to register with one of the inlet openings 23, 24 and 25 connected by conduits 21, 28 and 29 respectively to sources of other beverages. The openings 45, 46, M and 48 are circumferentially spaced around the valve element in difierent axial planes, but in the same transverse radial plane. As hereafter described, by operating the valve element by the handle l4 these various nozzles may be brought into alignment with the various inlet openings in the casing l8 and the conduits 2b to 29 leading to them from the difierent beverage sources.

Mounted on the top of the casing cap 36 is an arcuate rail 5! having a lower notched edge 52 adapted to be engaged by the point [5 of the handle or lever H. Each individual notch is so located that when the point it is engaged in one of the notches the handle and valve element will be in a position to serve a selected beverage merely by depressing the handle. The cap 38 of the casing has indicia 53 thereon under each notch to indicate to a user the beverage which the valve element is set to supply when the point is in the associated notch. The projecting point [5 of the lever runs under the rail and is engageable in the notches.

In operation, the spring 38 normally retains the valve element 3! in raised position relatively to the casing l8, as indicated in Fig. 2, in which position it will be apparent that the inlet openings in the casing are shut by the cylindrical wall of the valve element, due to the fact that in this position the inlet openings are on a different radial plane from the openings in the valve element. If it is desired to draw oii milk, for example, the handle Id is lifted to free the point l5 thereof from engagement with the lower notched edge of the rail 5-! whereupon the handle can be turned to rotate the valve element in the casing. When the lever reaches the position shown in Fig. 3 with the point i5 under the notch marked Milk, the relative positions of the casing and valve element will be as shown in Fig. 2, in which the opening 55 in the valve element will be in the same axial or radial plane as the inlet opening 22 in the casing which is connected to the milk supply pipe 25, but, it will be noted that in this position the series of inlet ports in the casing and the openings in the valve element are still hi difierent radial planes, as shown in Fig. 2, so that the draw-oil valve is still shut. However, in this position it is only necessary to depress the lever handle is to press the stem 13 inwardly and shift the valve element downwardly in the casing i3 against the pressure of the spring 38, and thus bring the opening 5 and the inlet opening 22 into registry, as shown in Fig. 1, to dispense milk from the conduit 25 through the nozzle 41 and the outlet 21. While doing this the end It: of lever i4 is in the notch 52a in rail 51 opposite the word Milk and will hold the lever so it cannot be swung in a horizontal plane to turn the valve element 3!, and only mik can be supplied while the end of the lever is in this notch. Upon release of the handle is the spring 38 immediately returns the valve element to raised position and shuts off the flow. Thereafter it is only necessary to depress the handle whenever a further supply of milk is wanted. When a difierent beverage is wanted the lever can be lifted to release the point from engagement with the notch 52a in notched rail 51 and then turned to bring the point under the notch indicated as proper for the beverage desired, which can then be obtained by depressing the handle as above described. This operation brings into registry the proper inlet opening and opening in the valve element to obtain the beverage wanted. Thus when the end of the hand lever is in the second notch 522) the nozzle 44 is in alignment with conduit 29 and will communicate with it when valve member 3| is depressed. When the end of the lever is in notch 52c nozzle 53 is in alignment with conduit 28, and when in notch 52d nozzle 42 is in alignment with conduit 21. When the lever end is in notch 52c no nozzle is in alignment with any supply conduit. so depressing the valve member will not connect any of them to any supply conduit. This position is therefore designated as the oil position.

By means of the present invention a single draw-off valve is adapted to supply any one of a number of different beverages. When positioned for a selected beverage the valve can be opened merely by depressing the handle 14 and will close automatically under impulse of the spring 38 when the handle is released. When properly set, a given beverage can be repeatedly drawn off merely by depressing the handle 14, without requiring that it be grasped by the user, thus expediting and simplifying the drawing-off operation.

Although I have described a specific embodiment of the invention in detail, it will be apparent that the invention can be variously modified and adapted within the scope of the appended claims.

Having thus set forth the nature of my invention, I claim:

1. A dispensing control comprising an outer casing provided with a series of openings communicating with different conduits, a movable hollow shell forming a valve element in the casing having a series of openings in its side walls movable into alignment with the respective openings in the casing by movement of the shell relative to the casing, discharge openings in the bottom of the shell and easing, nozzles in the shell forming conduits leading from the respective openings in its side wall to'the discharge openings to conduct liquids from the respective side wall openings separately to the discharge openings, and manual means for moving the shell to align up the various openings in its side wall with those in the casing.

2. A dispensing control comprising a cylindrical casing having a plurality of inlet open ings circumferentially spaced on different axial planes around said casing and in a given radial plane, and. having an outlet adjacent the end of the casing, a relatively rotatable cylindrical valve element having a plurality of openings spaced circumferentially around said element normally on difierent axial planes from the planes of said inlet openings and on a different radial plane, whereby said inlet openings are normally closed by the valve element, a conduit separately connected to each opening in said valve element and extending to the outlet to conduct fluid from its respective opening to said outlet, and mechanism for rotating said valve element relatively to said casing to position a selected inlet opening in the same axial plane with a selected opening in said valve element, and to then move said valve element axially relatively to said casing to bring said selected openings into registry, whereby fluid is conducted from the selected inlet opening to said outlet.

3. A dispensing control comprising a cylindrical casing having a plurality of inlet openings valve element, means adapted to hold one end of circumferentially spaced on different axial planes said lever whereby said lever can be swung to circumferentially around said element normally said valve member in position to maintain said 011 different axial planes from the planes of said openings out of registry and said inlet openings l sed whereby said inlet openings are normally closed 6. A dispensing control comprising a cylindrirotating said valve element relatively to said casing, a relatively rotatable and axially movd Select d Openings 60 regi try, whereby fluid ent radial plane, whereby said inlet openings are mamtam Sa d Se ct d Op s O f t ylevel pivotally supported on said valve element A p n ing control comprisin a cylindrical for rotating said element relatively to said casing Cas g having a plurality of inlet openings c to position a selected inlet opening in the same cumfe t a y sp ce on different aXial planes axial plane with a selected opening in said valve around aid Ca a d n a give radial plane, element, and a rail mounted on said casing in casing, arelatively rotatable cylindrical valve elei lever ca b operated to move said valve mcnt av a plurality of Openings Spaced member axially relatively to said casing to bring cumferentially around said element normally on said Selected openingg i t registry, whereby fluid di ferent a ia planes f the planes of Said is directed from the inlet opening to said outlet. inlet Openings a On a different a a Plane, 7. A dispensing control comprising a cylindri- Said l v whereby Said lever can be swung to ent radial plane, whereby said inlet openings are then move said valve member axially relatively normally closed by t valve element, means to said casing to bring said selected openings into arately connected t eagh valve 1 1; opening registry, whereby fluid is directed from the inlet to direct fluid th refrom t said tl t, a l v r P to Said Outlet pivotally supported on said valve element for ro- Adispensl'ng Control Comprising acylindrical tating said element relatively to said casing to casing having a plurality of inlet Openings position a selected inlet opening in the same axial on said rail for preselecting the inlet and valve element openings to be brought into registry.

References Cited in the file of this patent ported in axial alignment on said valve element UNITED STATES PATENTS for rotating said valve element relatively to said Number Name Date casing to position a selected inlet opening in the 47,546 Hurd May 2, 1865 same axial plane with a selected opening in said 244,537 Booton July 19, 1881 

